Somebody to Die For
by NadWri
Summary: Caro Grayson is driven out of Rosewood by Alison DiLaurentis and CeCe Drake. She returns when Alison has been missing for some time. Does her bitterness towards Alison mean she has anything to do with A? Or when she finds herself with a secret of her own, will she have to turn to Alison's friends for help to ensure A keeps it secret? Jason/OC and pairings from the show.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! So I've decided to come back to some Fanfiction after a long time away - I'm hoping to start on a novel in the near future, and re-watching Pretty Little Liars has gotten the imagination going enough for me to start getting a story out. This is a smaller introduction chapter to get things going, I have another couple completed at the moment. This will mainly be an OC/Jason story, but I'll be bringing in all the other characters too.**

 **Note that I've changed the dates so it's currently present day, and the time is 3 years after Ali has gone missing. I've therefore had to change that to 2014, but the characters are still the same age, just for the purpose of this story they'd have a later birthdate.**

 **The title inspiration is from the song Hurts - Somebody to Die For**

 **Hope you all enjoy!**

May, 2017

Caro pulled the last of her bags out of the trunk of the cab and set it down by her feet, her suitcase next to it balancing unsteadily on the uneven road surface. She noticed the driver watch her impatiently from where he had remained sitting in his seat and closed the trunk before picking up her handbag and making her way around to the driver's window.

"That'll be twenty three dollars," he said flatly, turning off the meter which had been running while she retrieved her belongings. She could have gotten a bus from the airport to save herself the money, but it wasn't worth the hassle with all the baggage she had brought.

Caro fumbled in her handbag for a twenty dollar bill and a five dollar bill and handed them to the driver through his window, without bothering to unfold them first. "Keep the change," she mumbled as she slung her handbag over her shoulder and went to collect her things. The driver pulled away at that moment, narrowly missing her foot. "Asshole," Caro scowled in the direction the cab had taken. She picked up the two other bags of her belongings and extended the handle of the suitcase so it was ready to pull along.

Rosewood. Home sweet home.

A light breeze from behind blew her hair into her face as she looked around and took in her surroundings. Nothing had changed here at all.

Nothing apart from her reason for leaving.

The houses looked the same and she could see the church in the distance. It was like looking at a picture she had seen many times before.

She started to walk along the sidewalk, passing by familiar houses as she did. Memories suddenly came flooding back to her. Parties, sleepovers, hanging out with friends after school on summer afternoons. The good times she had here in Rosewood. That was before it had all been taken from her.

She reached the end of the street and looked up at the large, imposing Victorian house in front of her. And smiled. It was the house that belonged to her Aunt Victoria, the woman who has raised her since she was three years old.

Caro's mother and father had both passed away when she was a young age, their lives ended prematurely by a criminal who had broken into their house one November night. She had read in newspapers as she grew older that he claimed he had no intention of hurting them, but when Caro's father had woken up, the intruder had panicked and shot at both of them. He had been sentenced to life – a punishment she now felt wasn't enough.

But Victoria had stepped up and took Caro in, never having had any of her own children or ever marrying. She lived alone in the house before, the house being owned by the family for generations. And she had given Caro a great childhood, and while she would have loved to have known her parents better, Caro adored her Aunt. She would be forever grateful to her.

She looked at the watch on her wrist which read one thirty. She was still too early and her Aunt wouldn't be home for over an hour yet. Caro hadn't taken any spare key when she had left Rosewood, so she sat down on the doorstep and set down her luggage.

She opened one of the bags closest to her and pulled out a book by Peter James, something to pass the time with. She also took out a chocolate bar she had packed with her, her growling stomach thankful since she had grown increasingly hungry on the journey, and settled down to wait for her Aunt to come home.

* * *

 _June, 2014_

 _Caro sat by the edge of the water and smiled as the waves rolled over her feet. "Damn, that's a lot colder than I'd expect in this weather." It had been a long day of walking, and she could already feel her muscles stiffening up. She and Jason had walked out to Cape May Point, stopping to have a seafood lunch on the way._

 _Jason smiled as he stretched his legs out, his hands sinking into the still warm sand. They had found a quiet spot out on the beach that was hidden from the beach houses by a line of trees. The sun was three quarters of the way down in the sky, enough only for it to be leaving a dim light. "Yeah, no matter how hot the day is, it takes a lot to heat the ocean."_

 _Caro loved coming here in the summer. This was the third year in a row she had been, and the best by far. The man that had made sure of that was sitting next to her._

 _Since the first night when she had taken a stroll down by the lake and found Jason DiLaurentis quietly sitting on his own. He hated having to spend time with his family and got away at every opportunity. The girl had sat down on the jetty a short distance away and started reading one of his favourite novels, one of the few he had ever finished. The Alchemist. He watched her, dark hair swaying in the breeze, too wary to say anything to her, but luckily she had decided to strike up a conversation._

 _Caro had seen him around Rosewood, but had never interacted with him previously. She knew his little sister – at Rosewood High, it was impossible not to. Alison had never acknowledged her, she wasn't popular enough or unpopular enough for her to care about._

 _Caro and Jason had a lot more in common than she would have thought. They talked for hours that night with the lake glinting behind them._

 _After that first night, she and Jason had spent increasing amounts of time together. Jason enjoyed getting away from his family and their pretentious friends. Caro gave him that escape, because he knew without her, if he was alone, what would happen._

 _He would drink._

 _They had taken walks into the town, out to the lighthouse, trying out some restaurants. Caro had told her Aunt she was going to be spending most of the days with an old friend from school and her Aunt was happy to let her do so. She was an adult now anyway, thanks to the 18th birthday that had just passed._

 _On the third night here, Jason had kissed her. Caro had hesitated at first and Jason prepared himself for rejection. But when she had returned the kiss the two became almost inseparable for the rest of the holiday._

 _Two nights ago, Jason's parents had taken Alison out for dinner with her friend, CeCe. Jason had brought her back to the empty beach house and they shared take out over a game of Scrabble that Jason found in one of the drawers._

 _She was intelligent, something he liked. She was different from the other girls in Rosewood, the ones his sister always had over at the house. She seemed honest and genuinely caring for him, without having an ulterior motive._

 _They had watched the sunset from the sofa beside the window with a record playing in the background, before Jason took her hand and led her to his room. Caro had smiled as she looked at his belongings with Jason watching her from the edge of the bed. She picked up photographs and examined them, feeling honoured she was getting some insight into his life._

 _Caro noticed the time was getting on and seen the moon rising higher in the sky. "I should get going soon," she said with a wistful look. "Thank you for tonight."_

 _Jason nodded and extended his hand. "C'mere," he said softly, as he pulled her into him and kissed her gently. They met each other's eyes and kissed again, this time deeper, longer. Before long they were both laying back on the bed, limbs tangled in each other, Jason's hands pulling her close to him._

 _And they made love that night. They lay holding each other for what felt like hours after, Caro feeling warm and safe. Reluctantly she had gotten up and let Jason walk her back to her own house before his family got back._

 _Now they sat in a peaceful silence for some minutes, watching the waves crash along the shore. "You know," he said quietly, "when we get back to Rosewood, people are gonna talk. If they see us together.. it's a small town and people like to gossip. I don't want you to have to be teased about dating the resident alcoholic. "_

 _Caro smiled sadly at him, he had opened up to her about his alcohol addiction._

" _Jason," she said softly stopping him, turning her head to look at him. "I don't care what people think. This summer, I've.. I've had the most amazing time with you." Caro smiled at memories of their last couple of weeks. The holiday was almost over, but she was in no way ready for what she and Jason had to finish. She was completely smitten with him. "Besides, when we do get back, if we're careful then no one apart from us has to know anyway. Not for now. And that has nothing to do with me not wanting to be seen with you. I just.. like having you as my secret. Something I don't have to share with anyone else."_

 _Jason grinned back at her then, and she felt her heart beat faster just looking at his smile. He moved over closer to her, not caring anymore how much sand he would be cleaning out of his clothes for the coming weeks and gently laid her back on the beach towel they had brought, before kissing her softly on the lips as the tide continued to close in behind them._

* * *

 _Alison concentrated hard as she looked through the binoculars she had taken from her father's luggage several hours before. They were great for watching people. She knew if she watched long enough, somewhere she would see something she wasn't supposed to see. A secret. And then she could add that to her extensive catalogue of secrets she already had stored away. Ammo, for when she needed it._

 _Nothing exciting had happened this evening, apart from their beach house neighbour, Mrs O'Reilly having a little too much vodka and passing out on the sun lounger on her patio._

" _Can we go home soon?" CeCe Drake asked from next to her, where she was sat reading a fashion magazine, one of a small pile she had brought with her. "Aren't you bored of doing that?"_

 _Alison sighed as she turned to look at her. "Yeah, you're right. Nothing exciting has happened in hours, it's like watching the world's worst television show. I just like to be in the know of what's going on around me, y'know?"_

" _I wouldn't expect anything else from you, Ali," CeCe smiled as they packed up their things. "Besides, the whole time you've been focused on that drunk idiot, you've been missing out on the real entertainment," she said, pointing a perfectly manicured finger at where two silhouettes sat on the beach._

" _Damn it!" Alison exclaimed, immediately placing the binoculars back to her eyes. "Why didn't you say anything earlier?"_

 _CeCe shrugged. "Because I'm not overly concerned about what goes on in the lives of others?"_

 _Alison watched carefully for a moment as she tried to adjust the dials on the binoculars so she could focus better. The two figures had their backs turned. After a few moments, they leaned their heads sideways to go in for a kiss. A smile broke out on Alison's face as she managed to match one of the figures to her brother. "Well well, looks like we've found out what's Jason's been up to these past few days. And here I thought he had been sneaking away to drink again."_

 _CeCe suddenly stopped what she was doing and bit her lip. "That's.. Jason?"_

 _Alison nodded in confirmation. "Yeah and.." she focused on the other figure for a moment before she could recognise her. "That's the Grayson girl.. Callie.. Candy.. Caro! Yeah, Caro. I've seen her around. I think she's on the school athletics team. Her family have a beach house here too." Alison lowered the binoculars and looked at CeCe. "Guess they didn't want us to see the budding romance, huh." Alison noticed CeCe's expression had changed, sadness showing in her eyes. "CeCe? You okay?"_

" _Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, her lips twitching into a small smile. "It's just... I hoped that maybe this summer Jason and I, well..."_

 _Alison placed a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't know you still felt that way about him. I thought after last summer it was over." Alison remained quiet for some moments, before a sly smile broke out on her face._

" _Hey, look, don't worry. I'll get her out of the way so you don't need to worry about her anymore. Then there won't be any obstacles for you getting my brother back."_

 _If there was one thing Alison DiLaurentis was good at, it was making someone's life hell._

 **And that's it for now!** **Short and sweet to get things going. I'll go more into depth about Caro and Jason meeting each other in future chapters, just wanted to form a background for the two.**

 **Hope to see you all next chapter!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Another short-ish chapter :)** **The first few chapters will mostly have flashbacks to build on the story a little - anything in italic has happened in the past. My plan is to introduce one more OC a little later on in the story.**

* * *

"So how was Michigan?" Victoria asked as she stirred some chopped up carrots into the pot of soup she was making. The pleasant, familiar smell of her potato and vegetable soup filled the large kitchen as it boiled on the cooker.

"Quiet," Caro replied, sitting at the kitchen table, and kneading some dough for the homemade bread they were making. One of the things she had loved when she was growing up and that had made her and her Aunt very close had been cooking together. Her Aunt liked to keep as much of the food that they consumed homemade – takeout was rare and they tried to keep junk foods to a minimum. "Even though I'm 20 years old Grandma still wouldn't let me out past ten," she added with a laugh.

"That sounds like Elizabeth alright," Victoria said knowingly. Elizabeth was Caro's grandmother from her father's side, and Victoria was her mother's sister, so while they weren't blood related, Victoria had bonded with the older woman over Caro. Caro had still kept her father's name, though Victoria was a Roberts.

When Caro had suddenly asked to go and spend some time with her Grandmother in Grand Rapids, Victoria had no issues with the idea, as much as it had seemingly come out of nowhere. Elizabeth was getting older, but Caro was able to take care of herself now anyway.

"We have your twenty first birthday coming up soon… do you have anything in mind?"

Caro looked out the kitchen window to where she could see the Hasting's house at the end of their garden, and behind that, the DiLaurentis house. She wasn't overly excited about her birthday. "I think I'll just have a quiet one. I've been away from here for almost 3 years anyway, most of my friends have gone. Besides, there aren't many places around here to have a great night out."

"Well you still have a couple of weeks before it – why don't you reconnect with some of the people around here?" Victoria asked. "Ken and Jessica moved away, but Jason is still in the DiLaurentis house." Victoria wandered off into the pantry with a smile.

* * *

 _Caro watched Jason silently with the duvet pulled half over her face so he wouldn't catch her peeking. He was picking his clothes up off the floor and getting dressed. His hair fell into his eyes as he leaned over to pick up his shirt. He had such a wonderful body._

 _Since they had returned from Cape May, Caro had developed somewhat of attachment and found herself needing Jason with her at night, or she noticed it was incredibly difficult to sleep. It soothed her being snuggled into him, feeling his breath tickle her neck, and smelling the aftershave he wore every day. They had worked out how to get Jason into her room unnoticed, and how she could get into his. His house being more crowded than hers meant they spent most of their nights here._

" _I can see you, you know," he said, tugging the bottom of the duvet away from her, so her face was uncovered. "You're not as sly as you think you are."_

" _Just enjoying the view," Caro replied innocently as she sat up and took a sip of her water from her bedside table. "What do you have planned for today?"_

 _Jason checked his phone quickly before slipping it into the pocket of his jeans. "I'm going to be doing some work on the house. Dad has been asking me to fix a broken faucet for ages. After that I'm driving my little sister into Philly. Maybe when I get back we can grab some dinner?"_

" _Sounds nice," Caro smiled as he leaned over to kiss her on the cheek. "I want to cook for you soon, and we can have a proper dinner together. Candles and all," she laughed. "Let me throw something on and I'll see you out."_

 _She picked out an old summer dress from her wardrobe and quickly put it on over her underwear. She and Jason quietly opened the door from her bedroom._

 _Caro did a quick check out of her bedroom window, and confirmed that her Aunt was still out working in the back garden. There wasn't far to go, the front door was at the bottom of the stairs._

 _Once they reached the bottom of the stairs, Caro removed the security chain and turned the key that unlocked the front door._

" _You have a good day," she smiled as he leaned in for a goodbye kiss._

 _But it lasted for longer than planned. Seconds, turned into Minutes. Neither of them wanting to be the one to break it._

 _Caro jumped away from Jason as she heard someone clearing their throat in the hallway and turned to look at her Aunt grinning at them, taking off her gardening gloves and setting them on a side table. "Good morning Caro. Good morning Jason."_

 _Jason smiled sheepishly at her, clutching his jacket in his hands. "Morning Ms Roberts."_

" _Please, it's Victoria," she said pleasantly. "Will you be staying for breakfast, Jason?"_

 _Before he could answer, Caro quickly opened the door and gave Jason a gentle shove in that direction. "Um, Jason has somewhere to be this morning," she replied for him, "but maybe another time. " She couldn't handle an awkward sit down and chat right now. "Text me later?" she whispered, as Jason stepped outside and nodded at her._

" _Bye Ms Robe- I mean, Victoria," he called from the porch._

 _She closed the door behind him, and wondered if she could make a getaway back up to her room without one hundred questions. Unlikely. She turned to her Aunt, knowing that she was blushing as she could feel the heat in her face._

" _Good night?" Victoria asked, with one eyebrow slightly arched._

" _Huh? Yeah," Caro replied nonchalantly, as she started to make her way towards the kitchen. "Do you need any help with anything in the garden today? I don't have any plans."_

" _No, I'm fine thank you, darling." Victoria followed her to the kitchen and sat down at the dining table while Caro made herself a bowl of cereal. "You know, you don't have to sneak around your own house. You're an adult now. If you want to have someone over, just let me know and I'll keep myself out of the way. Even if that is a boy."_

 _Her Aunt winked at her and Caro cringed inside, sensing where this was going._

" _Just make sure that you're… safe. Jason is a lovely boy, but you're both still young." Victoria wasn't close to the DiLaurentis family, but she got on well with Jessica when they had met on occasion. Victoria tried to help out with the church where she could, and Jessica had been in charge of arranging a few events she was involved in. Her son had always been polite when he was around. The only one she didn't find overly charming from the family was the daughter. That girl seemed to have something strange about her._

" _Yes, Aunt Victoria," Caro nodded, hoping that was the end of the conversation. She ate a large mouthful of cereal and turned on the television in the kitchen, signalling she didn't want to talk any more. While she was very comfortable with her Aunt, she didn't like discussing her personal life, or relationships._

 _Some things were better kept secret._

 _She felt the vibrations from her phone buzzing next to her and she looked down at the lit up screen. She had a new message. She smiled as she picked it up, though she had only seen him minutes ago her heart hoped it was Jason. But the number wasn't recognised._

 _Caro opened the message and frowned. All it said was 'I know.'_

 _"I know?" she quietly read out loud. There were no following messages in the next few minutes, as she waited. She wondered about replying for a moment but changed her mind. "Wrong number I guess," she decided and hit the delete button._

* * *

"It's been too long," Caro said quietly. "I'm sure he wouldn't care about me coming back."

She knew he would care alright. But not in a good way. Not after how she had left things.

Victoria peered her head around the door, noticing Caro's gloom expression. She picked up the potatoes she had come for and closed the door behind her.

"Honey, a lot has changed around here since you left. He lost his sister. The town has lost two or three good people, and one or two.. not so good. Might be nice for him to see an old friendly face. If I remember correctly, you two were a little more than that."

Caro didn't respond and was lost in thought as she turned on the breadmaker.

"Oh, I forgot to say. We're having some guests over for dinner tonight, that's why I'm making extra large portions of everything," Victoria announced, gesturing to the food. Caro honestly couldn't tell, her Aunt had always made generous portion sizes, even when it was just the two of them. "You remember Hanna Marin? She was a couple of years below you at school. My friend, her mom, Ashley, she's been through a tough time lately. What with a divorce and her ex-husband remarrying and coming back to town, I can't even imagine."

"Uh huh," Caro finished washing the dough mixture off her hands and dried them on a towel, before looking at where her jacket was on the sofa. "I think I uh.. I think I'll take a walk, if you don't need me to do anything else for now?" she asked her Aunt. She had just the place in mind.

A trip down memory lane.

Victoria smiled at her. "No, knock yourself out."

* * *

Jason DiLaurentis sat in the staff lounge of Rosewood High and stared into the bottom of his empty coffee cup. This was the third one he had had since school had started this morning. He'd felt unsettled last night, not able to sleep, like something was going to happen. He'd eventually put it down to the humidity, making sleeping conditions uncomfortable. When he had finally drifted off, his alarm had gone off not long after, rudely reminding him it was time to get up and face the day.

He thumbed through the files on the desk in front of him, his eyes reading the words, but his head not really taking them in at this particular moment. After he had kicked his addiction for the second time, he had become the school's Substance Abuse Mentor. As cliché as it sounded, it made him feel good, helping other people.

There were times when he still struggled not to pick up a bottle himself, but knowing that he was supposed to be a role model for some of these kids made him stop and think again. And some of them had much worse stories than he did. He hadn't even come from a bad childhood, so in some situations, it even made him feel guilty.

Besides, it wasn't like he had anyone around to send him over the edge again. He lived alone and he kept his interactions at work minimum, apart from those that were required. When he was just in his own company, he could find other things to distract himself with.

Alison was... gone. Killed by some monster, for reasons he didn't understand. Him, or the rest of Rosewood, even the useless cops. It had been almost three years since she had disappeared and they still hadn't figured out who had done it. But someone had wanted his sister dead. And they had killed her.

After that his parents had left too. They didn't care what happened to him left here. Alison had always been their favourite. He was okay with it. He was used to people leaving him now.

Jason heard the grandfather clock ticking in the background and opened his case to put away the files. He'd continue this tomorrow when he'd had a better sleep and could concentrate properly. He had plans to head to the gym after he had finished, and he would be able to tire himself out there too.

After he had stopped drinking the first time, when his parents had put him into rehab, he had been trying his best to get in shape, and really focused on his fitness. He'd done well for a while and was really building his muscle, and feeling a lot better about himself in general. Before he'd relapsed.

After she left.

Then he had barely eaten for weeks, and suppressed his appetite with bottles of whisky instead. Gin, Rum, anything he could drink that would start the cycle of him forgetting about his life then falling into a deep slumber. It helped him pass the most painful days.

But he was working on it. He had been clean for almost two years now. Coffee was his only remaining addiction.

He stood up just as the door opened in front of him. "Ella," he said with a smile, as Ms Montgomery entered the room and set her handbag down on one of the sofas.

"Hey, Jason," she smiled as she sat down, visible relief on her face as she finally got off her feet. 'You done for the day?"

"Yeah, that's me. Going to enjoy what's left of the sun that I can." The afternoon sun was still shining in the windows, heating up the leather sofas.

"Make the most of it," Ella stretched out and took out some papers for marking.

Jason had noticed she spent increasing amounts of time in here after school since her divorce had gone through. He'd heard rumours of her dating the new owner of the coffee shop, Zack. No one could do anything in this town without someone else knowing about it five minutes later it seemed. He picked up his case and headed for the door when she spun around to look at him. "Oh, Jason? Could I ask you a huge favour?"

Jason paused for a moment, hoping she wasn't about to ask him something that required too much of his time, but nodded politely. "Sure."

"I have a blocked pipe under my kitchen sink," Ella began and Jason tried not to sigh, knowing where this was going. "Now that Byron isn't around for stuff like this, and Zack is out of town at the moment, I wondered if maybe you could take a look at it? Tonight?" She gave him her best pleading smile. "I've tried fixing it myself, but I've not had much success. I'll pay of course!"

Jason gave a brief nod, he couldn't really say he had anything more pressing he had to do anyway. "Sure thing, I'll swing by later."

He headed out into the parking lot and opened the trunk of his car, throwing in his things, closing it after him. As he put it down, he seen a familiar looking figure in the distance, back turned to him, her dark ponytail swinging as she walked. His heart missed a beat as he watched her walk out of view, turning off right to where he knew there was a hidden, not discovered by many people, path to the lake. Just a coincidence, he thought.

Lately, Rosewood didn't really do coincidences.

* * *

 _Caro squealed as Jason splashed his foot into the water of the lake, and the icy cold spray hit her in the face. "Jason!" she exclaimed as she looked up at him with displeasure. "That's not funny."_

 _The lake Jason had found a few months ago, approximately a mile away from the town was a beautiful place. He had never seen more than two other people here, both dog walkers, and it didn't seem to be that well known. He had come down here on his own on a few occasions just to get away, but now he had someone he wanted to share it with._

 _Jason was laughing though, unable to keep it in at her annoyed expression. "Oh come on babe, it's not that bad once you're in."_

 _In truth, he had immediately regretted it when he had first jumped in, but his body was starting to adjust to the water temperature. His clothes were sitting in a pile at the edge of the water. "Are you going to join me, or..?"_

 _"No, no way," she replied defiantly. "If you want to go swimming with me, then we can go to the heated pool in town. That's more my thing." Caro heard something rustle in the background and turned around, feeling uncomfortable. It was dusk, and the visibility was getting low. When she checked, there was nothing there apart from some trees. It was probably an animal of some kind. She felt a little stupid for worrying, but she had felt unusually jumpy lately, getting strange cryptic messages sent to her every now and then._

 _Jason swam closer to where she was sitting at the edge, and once again, used his foot to create a splash._

 _Caro narrowed her eyes at him. "Quit it Jason, I swear I-" Before she could finish, Jason had stood up and pulled her up and against his wet chest. He let himself fall backwards into the water, holding her. Caro shrieked at the cold as her clothes were soaked and moved around frantically, trying to warm herself up in the water._

 _Jason tucked a strand of hair behind her ears and moved his mouth down to hers. "Live a little," he whispered._

* * *

Jason rubbed his eyes tiredly as he pulled up outside Ella's flat. It was still just after 6pm, but he was definitely feeling tired, and had crashed from his coffee high. He'd spent an hour or so in the gym, working with some weights and building up his muscle strength, before he'd felt too weak to do anything else. A hot shower there had helped to relax him a little. He grabbed his toolbox from the backseat and got out of his car, locking it behind him, shoving his keys into his pocket.

The buzzer was answered almost immediately after he pressed it, and he made his way up to the flat above the gallery. It wasn't a large flat, but Ella's kids had stayed in the house with their father after their parents separated, and only came by here occasionally, so it was a perfect size for her.

Jason smiled as Ella greeted him at the door and led him into the small kitchen. "I can't thank you enough for doing this," she said gratefully. "You're welcome to stay for dinner after it if you like, a thank you. I didn't know who else I could ask, and it would be a fortune for me to have to call someone out."

"It's no problem, Ella," he assured her, setting his toolbox down on the floor. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Ella's daughter Aria, and her friend Hanna, both had been friends of Jason's sister, were sitting at the kitchen table, looking at something on their phones. Aria quickly put her phone away as she seen her mother come in. She looked up at him, seeming surprised to see him here. "Hey Jason," she greeted.

Jason nodded at them both. He didn't have any problems with Alison's friends, at least, not now he was passed his teenage years, but the girls were always acting slightly strange. They all seemed to keep too many secrets, he could tell they were always hiding something. Just like his sister.

"Uh girls, would you mind heading through to the bedroom for a bit?" Ella asked, moving some stuff out of the way. "Jason has come over to take a look at the kitchen sink, he's probably going to need some space." He nodded in agreement as she headed for the doorway. "I'll go turn the water off for you before you get started."

She left him with Hanna and Aria who had both now stood up and packed away the homework they had been working on. Or using as a cover anyway. Hanna turned to her friend and lowered her voice, but not enough that Jason wasn't able to hear them. "Actually, I should head off now anyway, it's almost six thirty. My mom and I have been invited to dinner tonight at Ms Robert's house. Mom was originally going to go herself, but said I should come along too, for the woman's niece."

Jason listened, paying close attention, his throat suddenly feeling dry.

Hanna sighed and picked up her bag. "Mom said she had just come back from Michigan or something."


	3. Chapter 3

" _There's a letter here for you Jason," Jessica DiLaurentis said as she set the rest of their mail on the kitchen table and went to get a start on breakfast. Most of them were bills, or for Kenneth._

 _Jason looked up at the small white envelope and frowned. He wasn't expecting anything. He had been known to place some online orders and completely forget about them when he had been drinking, but this one seemed too small for most things. He reached over and picked it up, noticing the lack of address and post mark on it. It seemed like it had been handwritten and placed into their mailbox._

 _His name was in red pen on the front, neat handwriting too._

 _He opened it up and turned it upside down, hearing an odd noise inside, a silver chain spilling into the palm of his hand. He immediately recognised the locket attached to the delicate chain._

 _It was the one had had given to Caro only a couple of weeks ago. The one she had been incredibly happy to receive and put it on straight away. Every time he had seen her since then, she had been wearing it. He held the heart shaped locket in his hand and opened it as carefully as he could. It still had the picture of the two of them smiling inside, taken just after they had come back from Cape May._

 _He checked the envelope for anything else, but there was nothing, no letter, no note. He was still incredibly confused when he took his phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his contacts, looking for Caro's number. When he found it, he hit the dial button and held the phone to his ear._

 _The call went straight to voicemail, Caro's voice asking him to leave a message after the tone if he wanted to get in contact with her._

 _He hung up and tried it again, not sure what he was hoping for. Straight to voicemail._

 _Something was wrong._

* * *

Jason looked at the clock on his beside table, hitting the button on top of it to light it up. His eyes stung at the bright light against his dark room.

03:08

He was exhausted but there was no way he was getting to sleep tonight. His mind hadn't switched off since Hanna had left the Montgomery flat. He had been so distracted it had taken him almost three times as long as usual to fix the blocked pipe, apologising to Ella that the block seemed to be worse than she had thought. He had politely declined Ella's offer of dinner when he had finished, telling her he was too tired and came immediately home.

He couldn't stop thinking about Caro. She was back.

The only person he had ever truly loved. Not even he and his parents or sister had ever been as close as they were.

He hadn't seen her for himself, but Hanna had confirmed it and he'd sensed something. He had half a mind to go over there right now and demand to talk to her, and find out what the hell had happened. The time of night wasn't really concerning to him, she owed him that at least.

But his state of mind was the thing he had worried about.

If he was asked to put into words how he felt, there wasn't a single word that could describe it. He felt anxious, angry, agitated, but he'd also gotten a sensation of butterflies in his stomach that he knew was excitement. Hope.

He needed to wait until he had calmed down before he did anything stupid.

He wanted to know why she had left, why she had returned their things, why he wasn't able to contact her and why their time together seemed to mean nothing to her. If it wasn't for her Aunt he might have thought he had gone crazy and only imagined her.

He tossed and turned for what felt like hours, but was only minutes. He'd go for a morning run when the sun started to come up. And then he wasn't sure what he'd do.

But he knew that he needed answers.

* * *

 _Jason hurried over to the Roberts house as the rain bounced off the sidewalk, it was getting heavy and the clouds were showing no signs of parting to allow the sun through. Rosewood was expecting a storm in the coming days._

 _He hurried up the steps to the porch and rang the doorbell. The house seemed quiet but he could see there was a light on in one of the bedrooms. He pressed the doorbell again, impatiently._

" _I'm coming, just give me a minute!" he heard called from inside. After another twenty seconds or so, the door opened and Victoria was standing in front of him. "Oh, hi Jason," she greeted. "Sorry, I was upstairs just sorting through some things."_

" _Hey, Ms Roberts," Jason said hurriedly. "Have you seen Caro around? I can't reach her phone."_

 _Victoria looked slightly confused then, and moved to the side, her hand gesturing him inside out of the rain. Jason followed her into the hallway and she closed the door behind him. "She's already left, Jason. She got a cab to the airport this morning."_

" _Left?" he asked, wiping the raindrops off his forehead. "What... left?"_

" _Yes, for her Grandmothers in Michigan," Victoria paused then and looked at him, concerned. He seemed to have no idea what she was talking about. "Has she not told you she was going?"_

 _Jason shook his head. "No, she didn't mention anything. Did she uh.. did she say how long she was going for? Is this just a short visit?" he questioned._

" _She wasn't sure," Victoria replied after a moment. "I'm not expecting her to be back any time soon though. She said she might have a look at colleges up there and maybe stay for a while if she found something suitable. I don't understand why she wouldn't mention this to you... did you two have a fight?"_

" _No," Jason sat himself down on the sofa, he felt comfortable enough in this house to do that. Gone? How could she just be gone? "Do you know why I can't reach her phone?"_

 _Victoria looked over at where a discarded mobile sat on the sitting room table. "Yes.. I've been meaning to throw that out. She left her phone here, said it had been water damaged down at the lake and wasn't working anymore. She said she would call me from her Grandmothers when she got there and she would buy a new phone. I assumed she would have taken your number too. I don't expect her to have arrived yet, so she would probably be calling later in the evening."_

 _She was unreachable as it stood. Jason hoped too that she had taken his phone number. But after returning his gifts and not telling him about her plans, he had a feeling she hadn't._

* * *

Caro looked through the newspaper she had picked up off the lawn. She'd need to find a job here if she was going to be staying around for a while. While her Aunt didn't ask for much for the house, she wanted to start saving up so she could look for her own place and think about her future.

There were a few openings, mostly bar work or shop assistants. While she wouldn't mind doing those, she wanted to find something that would help her with her line of study, Criminal Psychology. She had taken an online course on it when she was staying in Michigan. She liked having the freedom to be able to study wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted.

She decided now wasn't the time for searching and turned back to the front page. 'Investigations continue into the death of Rosewood Detective' the headline read. The story was about Darren Wilden. He had been quite a few years older than her so she had never really known him well, and when she had left he had been working as a Police Officer. He seemed to have done well in getting himself promoted after such little time. The story read that he had been found in town with gunshot wounds. Of course, she had seen the story on the national news, but it wasn't as major there as it was here in Rosewood. She made a note to stop by the police station and check if there were any vacancies.

Caro stood up to go make herself some coffee from the coffee machine they had in the kitchen, watching the curtains blowing in the light breeze from the open window as she waited. She had gotten her first good sleep in a while last night, and was feeling more refreshed than previous days, with packing and travelling and unpacking having messed up her schedule.

She checked her phone for any messages, but there was nothing apart from a group chat message from some of her friends in Michigan. Her social life was pretty drama free now, she had a few close friends, but kept to herself for most of the time.

She didn't fully trust anyone, not after the time she'd had before she left Rosewood.

It had started with just a few pranks and culminated in a threat that meant her leaving or potentially facing time in prison. She couldn't have stayed to find out.

* * *

 _Alison already had everything planned, she knew exactly what she was going to say to the police and had managed to get her friends to agree with her, at least she thought so. They all still seemed hesitant, particularly Emily._

 _The night had gone horribly wrong._

 _It was supposed to just be a prank on Toby, a stink bomb through the window. Alison had seen him watch the five of them get dressed through their bedroom window. He deserved it. But something had happened and it had exploded, causing the whole building to go up in flames. When the girls had heard a scream, they had realised that Jenna was inside, and not Toby. Thankfully, he had been nearby and had pulled her out of the inferno._

 _Alison had thought about what it would be like if she went to prison for this, and she wasn't prepared to go down for it. Her mind had worked in overtime to come up with something. Aria had called the emergency services and they didn't have much time before the police would be asking them questions. She could claim it was just a prank gone wrong, but she didn't trust the cops around here – she would pay for that._

 _So instead she had decided to use one of her secrets._

 _Jenna and Toby._

 _She had seen the videos of them together. Toby, using his step-sister and forcing her into a relationship with him. She could make him take the fall for this, and use what she had against him to convince him. If he claimed it was an accident he would get less time and the consequences would be worse than her accusing him of something else._

 _She seen him standing in the street as the ambulance with Jenna in it pulled away. Her friends were all watching, she almost wanted to yell at them to keep it together - she could see the panic on their faces and it wouldn't take a genius to work out that they had something to do with this._

 _She turned to look at them all. "Look, I'm going to go talk to Toby. Once he knows I know his secret, then I'm willing to bet he'll talk to the cops and say this was his doing. Just stay quiet for now."_

 _Alison eyed them all carefully for a moment before noticing someone else out of the corner of her eyes._

 _It was Caro. She was standing a few houses down, looking at the blaze._

 _Something flickered inside Alison's head for a moment. She would be playing a dangerous game to differentiate from her original plan but she had made a promise to CeCe to get this girl out of the way. She had tried everything she could to break her so far, but Caro was rising above it and Alison didn't like failing. The most recent was she had posted a picture online of a naked Caro getting out of the lake she had taken when she had followed Caro and Jason._

 _Caro had been humiliated but she was still holding her head high and had managed to get the picture down before it had circulated too far._

 _She needed something bigger. This._

 _She hurried over to where Caro was standing watching the flames. Caro looked up and scowled at her. She knew Alison was the one who had been messing with her. Alison had warned her to stay away from her brother, but she didn't know why. "You do this, Alison? Seems like something the she-devil would do."_

 _Alison tilted her head and gave her a fake smile._

" _I had nothing to do with this," she said, her voice lowered. "But maybe you did. Or at least, that's what the police will think when I tell them."_

 _Caro narrowed her eyes at the younger girl. "You wouldn't, Alison."_

" _Oh, I would." Alison looked down at her hand and wiggled her fingers. She was strangely proud of herself, nevermind the fact she had just caused a building fire and the girl trapped inside was on her way to hospital. If Caro was scared off and Toby admitted to causing the fire it would be like getting two birds with one stone. At worst, if Caro wasn't threatened and she happened to tell the police it was her, and got the four girls to back her up, which she knew she could do by scaring them, then Caro would go to jail, and that would get her out of the way too. "I want you to leave Jason. Cut off all communication with him... leave this town if you have to."_

" _Or what, Alison? Why do you want me gone so badly?" Caro asked, pulling her jacket tighter around her. Something in Alison slightly terrified her, but she didn't let it show. She was capable of anything and didn't seem to care about anyone but herself. She'd hurt anyone to get what she needed. "What makes you think the police are going to believe you?"_

 _Alison looked around at her group of friends in the distance, talking quietly amongst themselves. "Oh, I can be very convincing Caro,' she said confidently. "Five against one is a pretty big problem for you."_

* * *

The coffee machine beeped, snapping Caro out of her thoughts as she lifted up the hot jug and poured herself a cup.

She picked up a piece of toast that was on the rack that her Aunt had made before she heard the doorbell ring. Caro ignored it, knowing her Aunt was in the sitting room, closer to the front door. She sat down at the table and spread some butter onto her toast.

She resumed reading the newspaper, flipping mindlessly through the pages, before her Aunt came into the kitchen after a moment and gave her a soft smile.

"Honey, I think you best go to the door."

Caro looked at her puzzled but got up anyway. "Yeah, OK." She walked through to the front door which was left just slightly open and tucked her hair behind her ears. She still wasn't dressed, but the pajamas she was wearing weren't embarrassing and acceptable enough to be seen in.

She pulled it open and froze, her breath catching in her throat.

The man in front of her looked lost, broken and had dark circles under his eyes, but eyes that glinted slightly when he noticed her.

Three years might have passed, but she'd recognise him anywhere.

Her Jason... Caro had never stopped loving him. She had expected she was going to have to run into him somewhere, but she wasn't expecting it to be now, or for him to come to her. She was lost for words.

Jason shuffled on his feet, both of them just looking at each other for a moment.

"Can I come in?"


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, I hadn't forgotten about this! But between an almost two year old and working for most of the week this totally got away from me, but I now have the time, thanks to a new job, so if anyone is still interested, I have new chapters and promise to update more regularly :D**

* * *

Caro peered into the sitting room as she came down from her bedroom, having now put some clothes on. Jason was pacing back and forward, not having sat down since he had come in.

To buy herself a bit more time, she went through to the kitchen and flipped the on switch on the kettle. The wind outside was getting up, with a light rain starting that was seeping onto the kitchen counter, so she reached out to close the window and dried it up while she waited.

She wasn't prepared for this. She didn't know what she was going to say to Jason. Did she tell him the truth about why she had left? That she was scared his sister would have had her put in jail? She didn't know how Alison's disappearance had affected him though and she could be opening up painful wounds by putting the blame on his presumed dead sister.

But she had never been a good liar. Maybe getting away from Rosewood was a good thing for her.

The kettle made a noise to signal it had finished boiling the water and Caro set out two cups, her coffee-making was pretty much on auto pilot as her head tried to work out what she was going to say.

Her Aunt popped her head around the kitchen door, she had an umbrella in her hand and her raincoat on. "I'm heading out now, sweetie, I promised Ashley I'd help with something down at the church this morning." Caro nodded, knowing that her Aunt almost certainly didn't have anywhere to be and was just leaving to give them space. She would more than likely go and sit in the coffee shop for a while. "Call me if you need anything."

"Thank you," Caro smiled as she picked up the two coffee cups and followed her Aunt through to the hallway. Victoria gave her a small wave as she slipped out the front door. Caro took a deep breath and continued through to the sitting room, Jason had moved over to look out the window.

"I hope you still take it the same way you used to," Caro said quietly as she set the two cups down onto the table. "Milk and two sugars?"

"Yeah," he confirmed as he looked at the cups. "I wasn't really planning to stay for coffee though."

"Please," Caro wanted to add that he looked like he could use something to wake him up, but she didn't want to be rude and say it. "And please sit down, you're making me a little nervous." She laughed awkwardly as Jason continued to look at her from the window. "I imagine you came here looking for answers."

"What would make you think that?" he muttered, and seen Caro's face fall, any trace of humour gone. He hadn't come here to hate on her, but the more time he was in the room he could feel 3 years of pain coming back to him. He could feel the anger inside of him and was doing his best to control it. "You leave for almost three years, Caro, you wouldn't take my calls or answer any of my emails. You never tell me why and you returned anything I had ever given to you." Jason was starting to raise his voice as Caro sat and looked at the floor. "And you expect us to just sit here and have coffee like old friends having a catch up?"

"Jason..." Caro's voice barely came out more than a whisper. She just wanted to get up and wrap her arms around him, whether he fought against her or not. "I can't explain if you don't give me a chance."

"You had plenty of time to explain, Caro," he snapped back, rubbing his forehead tiredly. The rain was getting up outside, stormy. Just like the day she had left. "You could have gotten my number from your Aunt if you hadn't taken it with you, you could have found my email in your inbox, you knew my address to write a damn letter! Or did all of those slip your mind?"

Caro looked up at him and shook her head. It had hurt her as much, if not more for her to leave him. She wasn't going to sit here and have him yell at her for a decision that had broken her heart. "Jason, if you just came here to shout and accuse me then you need to leave now." Caro stood up and looked at the door. "I thought you wanted answers and I want nothing more than for you to know what happened. But if you aren't willing to listen and think that I wasn't hurting over what happened, then there's no point in you even being here."

Jason looked slightly shocked at her outburst.

"I meant everything I ever said to you, Jason." Her voice had lost its power and there was sadness in her eyes. "I loved you... I love- me leaving had nothing to do with you."

"It broke me, Caro" Jason finally sat down on the armchair and looked at his hands. "You leaving.. I thought I'd done something wrong. I thought our whole time together had been a lie."

Caro took a sip of her coffee, quickly pulling the cup back when the still roasting hot liquid burned her lip. "Someone wanted me to leave here. They blackmailed me into leaving and cutting off contact with everyone from Rosewood. Apart from my Aunt."

"What?" Jason watched her carefully, trying to decide if she was making this up. He couldn't read her. Not anymore. "Why on earth would someone blackmail you into leaving Rosewood?" Caro didn't have any enemies that he knew of, she had kept herself mostly to herself.

She sighed, deciding it was best that there were no lies between them. "I don't know why they decided to target me... I can't ask them... her, anymore. She's dead."

He was silent for a few moments before realising what she meant. "Alison?"

Caro nodded.

"Wha- why would Alison want you out of Rosewood? This doesn't make sense," he started to get up before Caro reached out to place a hand on his arm, stopping him.

"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Caro began, gently encouraging Jason back into his seat. "Alison had been messing around with me for some time. It started as little pranks at school like leaving stuff in my locker, or sending anonymous, cryptic texts. She didn't like that I was with you, but I never found out why. Anyway, things started to get worse from there. She... followed us down to the lake one day and took pictures of us... naked. She posted them online and somehow hacked into my computer. Suddenly they had been sent along with all my college applications."

"Why did you never mention this?" Jason questioned. Alison had certainly been a mean girl, but he had never realised she had a problem with Caro. There must have been something more to it. "Why didn't you tell me? I would have talked to her."

"I don't know..." she said finally. "I just figured it was some high school game, she had disliked me for some reason and it was just fun to her. But... she really did want me out of Rosewood. Do you know about the... Jenna thing?"

Jason shook his head. "Jenna Marshall?"

"Yes. The night she was blinded..." Caro played back the memory in her head. "I'd been to the Grille that night. I was doing some studying and then went a walk around. Stopped off in the park for a bit. I was by myself. As I was walking home, that was when I seen the smoke coming from behind their house. I waited around for a bit to see what was happening. Then I seen your sister and her four friends run out of the lane from Jenna's house. They didn't see my at first but after a little while, Ali noticed. She came over."

Jason finally picked up the coffee cup off the table and sipped at it hesitantly.

"Alison told me to leave again. She threatened to tell the police that I'd been involved with the accident at Jenna's if I didn't. That I had something to do with the fire."

"But you didn't," Jason began. "You could have just told the police where you were.. Surely they can't think you had anything to do with it just because Alison said so. You barely even knew Jenna, right?"

"I had no one to confirm where I was after I left the Grille." Caro paused for a moment. "Besides, it was more Alison's friends I was worried about. You know she could have talked them into anything, Jason."

She wasn't wrong. Those four girls followed Alison's every order when she had still been here.

All this time, and she had left because of his sister. She had been scared of what Alison would do.

"Why did you wait so long to come back?" he asked after a minute. "Alison been gone for over two years now." He got up and sat back down, next to her this time, on the sofa.

"I know, it's just... If I came back too quickly, I... I don't know. I guess I just didn't really believe she was gone."

Jason ran a hand through his hair, his mind trying to process everything that was going on. He was sure, no... certain that he believed her. His Caro. She wouldn't lie to him about something like this. "I don't know what to say..."

Caro hesitated for a moment before testing putting her hand onto his. He flinched slightly, but he didn't pull away. "Just... say you forgive me?"

"I... yeah," Jason had no idea why Alison would want Caro away from him. He wasn't even aware that Alison knew who she was. But Alison was always playing games, scheming, lying. Caro had been frightened away. "I missed you like crazy, Caro. I would have done anything to have you back. Now you're here, I just..."

He'd seemed so lost when he came into the house. He looked exhausted, a dark shadow hanging over him. But now he just looked vulnerable. "Are you okay?" she asked finally. "You look like you could sleep for days."

"Didn't get a lot of shut eye," he said with a small smile. "After I heard last night that you were back, well, I had a lot of stuff on my mind. First thing this morning I just wanted to come over here... see you for myself." The now heavy rain hit off the window, the room had darkened slightly thanks to the lack of sunshine.

"Why don't you go home and get some sleep?" she suggested. "Maybe... maybe we can have dinner later? 6pm? We could talk more then. Only if you want to."

Jason nodded. "I'd like that. Thank you."

They both stood up and Caro walked him to the door. A gust of wind blew into the house as she opened it. Caro hesitated for a minute before reaching out and pulling him into a hug. Jason held her tighter. "See you later," he said into her shoulder as they reluctantly parted and she watched him walk off down the street back to his house.

* * *

Caro had made it to the local shop but her umbrella had taken a good beating from the storm outside and her clothes were soaked through. She had only been back for two days and already she needed a holiday. But now wasn't the time to be dreaming of somewhere magical and warm.

She picked up a basket and started walking around, looking for what she needed to cook a Spaghetti Bolognese. There were a lot of recipes she now knew without having to consult a cook book, again thanks to her Aunt teaching her to cook from when she was little.

Which was probably for the best, as her concentration levels were at an all time low and following a recipe right now would have been a disaster. Her stomach was still churning with nerves. She was anxious about dinner with Jason. The atmosphere between them was not what she was used to, though it was what she had expected. She wasn't exactly thinking he would run into her arms and they would be madly in love again right away.

The radio was playing in the background, warning of strong winds to hit Rosewood. Her Aunt had been checking the house when she left to make sure they were ready if a bad storm were to hit them. It would probably be nothing, but her Aunt could never be too prepared.

Caro turned the corner to look for some tomatoes when she felt resistance against her basket and seen a bag of apples fall to the ground with a loud thud. Not looking where she was going, she had managed to hit into someone.

"Oh crap, I'm so sorry," she said quickly as she set down her basket and picked up the red apples, straightening herself up and handing them back to the girl in front of her. She recognised her immediately and her brain began working quickly to match a name to her face.

She knew she was one of Alison's friends.

"It's okay, don't worry about it." The girl was looking at her with wide eyes, like she was a ghost.

"Emily, right?" Caro asked as she held out her hand to be polite.

Emily shook her hand and gave a nod of her head. "Yeah, that's right. Emily Fields. And you're Caro Grayson."

"I am," Caro replied smiling as she picked up three tomatoes and added them into her basket. "Yeah, it's uh… been a while."

"Sure has," Emily smiled, but didn't seem pleased to see her. "I should get going," she said as she hurried past Caro and over to the counter to pay for her items.

Caro watched her go and raised her eyebrows in bemusement, before checking her shopping list and looking for the next item. People sure seemed jumpy around here these days.

* * *

"I'm telling you, it makes sense," Emily said hurriedly down the phone as she ran along the wet pavements, eager to get back inside and into the dry. "She knows everything about that night and had every reason to hate Ali for driving her out of here." Spencer Hastings was on the other end of the line, listening to Emily worriedly tell her about who she had ran into at the shop only 5 minutes ago. "I don't know what she is back in town for now, but maybe she heard about what Mona did and decided to do her own version of it to get back at us. We backed up Alison and she probably hates us too." Emily looked around to make sure no one was close to her and shivered in the cold rain. "Spence, I think Caro is A."

* * *

Jason had woken up from a morning combined with afternoon nap feeling a bit more refreshed than when he had gone to bed after seeing Caro this morning. It had taken him some time to get to sleep, but eventually he wasn't able to fight it any longer and last night had caught up with him.

Caro. That was all he could think about. She was back. He still wasn't sure what to do with that information.

He felt like a kid at Christmas that he was going to see her again soon but at the same time he was so wary, that she was just going to vanish like before and there would be no one but Victoria when he went over to the house.

And what she had said about Alison? He wanted it to be true, and the reason she had left was nothing to do with him, and he was almost certain that he trusted her, but Alison was still his baby sister, and there was still a part of him that was finding it difficult to process that she threatened to frame Caro for a fire. The two of them had barely interacted when he had been around, and he didn't know what her motive could have been.

He managed a quick shower and dressed smarter than his normal every day wear. It wasn't a date. Was it a date? What would they talk about? They used to have such a chilled relationship and could sit in silence for hours together, but it still felt perfectly comfortable. Now, being in her presence, he felt tense and awkward.

While still a little earlier than the time they had agreed on, he switched off all the lights in the house and grabbed his keys, and the roses he had gotten her as a gift from a gas station just out of town that he had made a quick stop to earlier in the day, before locking up and running the quick two minutes between his house and hers.

Jason knocked firmly on the door, and within seconds it had opened, Caro was smiling at him in an apron. He sheepishly held up the bunch of roses. "These might have already had more than the recommended amount of water."

She laughed as she took them from him and shook off the rain droplets, moving to let him inside. "They're beautiful, thank you." The house was warm and cosy compared to outside, the fire burning in the sitting room giving it an orange glow. There was a low rumble of thunder outside. Jason noticed there were candles lit on the dining table.

Caro followed his gaze and felt her cheeks flush. "Victoria got some candles, just incase of a blackout. This wasn't like uh.. a candletlit dinner or anything."

"Smart," Jason nodded as he sat down on the sofa, not wanting her to feel uncomfortable. Oddly, he still felt at home in this house. He had been so used to it before. It had a sense of being a family house, something which his had never really had. "Can I give you a hand with anything? You remember I'm great in the kitchen."

"Like that time you almost set the kitchen on fire when you tried to make popcorn?" she laughed, a happy memory making it's way to the surface. She seen him smile and relaxed slightly. He hadn't just been her boyfriend, he had been her best friend. It was going to be different at first, but she wanted everything they had back. She knew that for sure when she watched his smile. The smell of the food suddenly filled her nostrils and she was snapped back to reality. "But no, dinner is ready," she said as she turned off the oven, just as the lights flickered in the kitchen. "Just on time by the looks of it."

Just then she heard the noise signalling an incoming message on her phone. Probably the group chat again. She pulled the dish out of the over and set it on the counter, glancing over at her phone as she did so. The 'unknown sender' caught her eye.

Caro removed the oven glove and pressed to open the text message.

'You think because Alison is gone you were welcome back here? I'll see the next time you leave Rosewood is for good... - A'


End file.
